Kellyn Bechtold (‘Survivor’) exit interview: Ghost Island ‘felt like I was in a museum of Survivor past’ [PODCAST]

“I’m such a ‘Survivor’ nerd that [Ghost Island] felt like I was in a museum of ‘Survivor’ past,” laughs Kellyn Bechtold about experiencing this season’s big twist up close and personal. We chatted with the Denver, Colorado resident following her elimination in Wednesday’s 13th episode, in which the vote initially came down to a tie between her and Donathan Hurley. While Kellyn admits she was “scared to go sleep by myself all alone” on Ghost Island, she adds that “it was so fun to just nerd out and play these advantages.” Listen to our “Survivor” exit interview podcast above.

As for why Kellyn left the game on such a positive note, she confesses, “I had the unique experience of knowing pretty darn sure that my name was coming up. It had been three days since Chelsea Townsend went home and it was pretty clear that I was the next target. Even before tribal, Sebastian Noel and Wendell Holland had both come to me to sort of pay their respects. I was pretty sure that it was me, so I had time to let that sink in.”

“However, in the middle of tribal things started to get pretty spicy,” Kellyn recalls. “Donathan starts to get emotional and they start openly talking about that they were splitting the vote. So I figured out instead of voting with Donathan for Domenick Abbate for just like an emotional wasted vote, if I voted for Donathan I could get it to tie. So it was a fun little golden nugget to get it to tie, to watch Domenick and Wendell sweat just a little bit.”

Also in our “Survivor: Ghost Island” exit interview, Kellyn discusses her excitement over receiving Michaela Bradshaw‘s double-vote advantage, why she’ll never say the “G-U-T” word again, what it was like having her brother visit during the loved ones episode, and how excited she is for next week’s finale/reunion show.

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